A DILEMMA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22285, 11 June 1934, Page 12

A DILEMMA

ro mt eui ; or. Sir. —At the complimentary dinner given to Lieut.-colonel A. S. Falconer recently, Major O. H. Mead said: “The headmasters of _ the various secondary schools had a difficult job to perform in keeping their corps intact, mainly because they were anxious to be loyal to the territorial forces and at the same time encourage support and confidence in the League of Nations.” Now, this i 8 a very frank statement which, one feels, expresses very fairly the position of many members of the teaching profession. Ardently to desire peace and at the same time to train lade in the art, and with the weapons of war, must indeed be a very difficult attitude to maintain. It is only natural that, finding oneself in such a dilemma, one whose motives are peaceable should search for justification tor teaching bis pupils how, to use the weapons of war.

Captain Gilray finds here a measure of justification that "if boys learned only arms drill and exercises they were still deriving benefit. ... In the cadet battalions they encountered invaluable discipline and learned the only true and proper lessons in civics, lessons which could make them gentlemen and capable of recognising their obligations to the community.” Now, this view is typical of that held by'many serious and .wellintentioned people, but it is decidedly weak. It rests upon the assumption that “the only true and proper lessons m civics” are to be based upon a conviction that man’s relationships with his fellow-man must always be characterised by strife, and that the finest discipline is to be developed by being prepared on call to use effectively the instruments of death. In justice to Captain Gilray it is admitted that at present the relationships not only between nation and nation but between fellow-citizens of any one nation are marked by suspicion _ and hatred. Surely, however, the attitude of our leaders should not be that of taking for granted the permanent presence of those ill-feelings. Rather should they concentrate their efforts on discovering ways and means of eliminating them. It is a terrible and justifiable indictment against our social s/stem when a responsible teacher can state,., as does Captain Gilray, that “ he was absolutely convinced that the cadet corps' was one of the most valuable things in school.'' The situation is, tragic beyond words if “one of the most valuable things in school ” is that part of ite training which suggests the wounding or killing of one’s fellow-man. —I am, etc., Wm. W, MacArthxj*. The Manse, Portobello, June 7.